Happy Equal Pay Day

Today, September 8th, is Equal Pay day…..a calendar date that shifts every 12 months according to the pay gap that exists between men and women working full time, calculated by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, according to Average Weekly Earnings data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. WGEA calculates the pay gap to be at 16.2% for full-time employees, a difference of $261.10 a week. It also reports the gender pay gap in ASX200 organisations to be at a massive 28.7%,

The Top Incomes and the Gender Divide study, a collaboration between the University of Melbourne, London School of Economics and the Milan-based Boccono University, finds women are significantly lagging when it comes to the wealthiest earners in the country. Of the top 10% of earners in Australia, less than one in five are female. Of the top 1%, less that 14 to 22% are female.

And think women don’t ask for pay rises? Think again. Women just don’t get pay rises as often as men.

That’s the finding according to another new study by the University of Warick and University of Wisconsin. It found that women were 25% less likely than men to get a pay rise when they asked for one, and that both genders ask just as often.

Meanwhile earlier this year, Westpac’s International Women’s Day report outlined other findings on the problem including that:

· Women hit peak pay at age 31, eight years before men at 39

· Women start full-time careers on almost 12% less than men

· Women see an average 12% drop in pay after taking maternity leave

· The gender pay gap is worth $123.4 billion a year

· The average Australian mother has her first baby at 28 and takes an average 13.4 months maternity leave break. Based on average earnings for a 28-year-old, that will cost her $367,231 over her lifetime, including the $63,693 in lost income due to the time off work